There have always been present on the automobile market motor vehicles equipped with folding tops that can be unfolded to assume a closed position, in which the folding top covers the entire passenger compartment of the motor vehicle to enable use of the motor vehicle in the case of bad weather and/or cold, and can be folded to assume an open position, in which substantially the entire passenger compartment of the motor vehicle is uncovered. In the past, folding tops of the type described above had always been made of canvas, which is folded on itself in bellows fashion when the folding top assumes the open position. A folding top made of canvas is simple and inexpensive to produce, but also presents various drawbacks, in so far as the canvas tends to age quite rapidly above all when it is exposed to inclement weather conditions and to sunlight, and hence frequently the useful life of a folding top made of canvas is relatively short. Furthermore, canvas does not afford a good acoustic insulation, and hence the passenger compartment is particularly noisy also when the folding top is in the closed position. In addition, canvas tends to get deformed and to vibrate in a noisy way when the motor vehicle travels at relatively high speeds. Finally, canvas does not provide sufficient security in so far as it can easily be cut just with a knife by an ill-intentioned person who wishes to gain access to the inside of the motor vehicle.
For the reasons set forth above, there have recently been proposed motor vehicles provided with a rigid folding top made of sheet metal, said folding top normally being made up of two or more rigid elements made of sheet metal hinged together and designed to fold onto one another to pass from the closed position to the open position. In particular, one element defines a roof of the passenger compartment and delimits the passenger compartment at the top, whilst the other element defines a rear window and delimits the passenger compartment at the rear. However, a rigid folding top of the type described above presents some drawbacks in so far as, in the folded position, it presents large overall dimensions that may prove incompatible with the characteristics of some types of vehicles and particularly with vehicles having the engine housed in a central or rear position.